Morgan Creek Digital Is Betting $1 Million That Crypto Can Beat the S&P

Morgan Creek Digital, an institutional manager focused on cryptocurrencies and digital assets, wants to bet $1 million that such assets will outperform the S&P 500 during the next 10 years.

The asset manager is challenging any professional investor or firm that believes cryptocurrencies are “worthless” or that public equities are a better bet to prove their belief with a long-term bet against the Digital Asset Index Fund, a crypto index fund managed by Bitwise Asset Management.

The bet will be structured like the famous Warren Buffett bet, which began in 2008 when the billionaire investor wagered $1 million that investing in a S&P 500 index fund would see a greater result than investing in hedge funds.

In an email, Morgan Creek Digital founder and partner Anthony Pompliano told CoinDesk that the firm is confident in cryptocurrencies’ performance outlook across the next 10 years, at least compared to public equities.

“It outperformed over the last 10 years and we believe that will not change moving forward for the next 10 years,” he added, though the firm is “definitely not going off past performance” alone.

Rather, he referenced a post outlining how bitcoin’s fundamentals would support its growth as an asset class, noting that while the post references bitcoin specifically, his team holds similar views on the crypto space as a whole.

These fundamentals include the fact that the number of wallets and nodes supporting the network continue to grow, according to the post.

“The likely candidate will believe strongly in public equities or be very bearish on cryptoassets,” Pompliano said Thursday.

The bet will begin on Jan. 1, 2019 and conclude in 2029 – should any investors take Morgan Creek up on their proposition.